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WINDWING CATALYST AIR 5.2, 5.7, 6.5
The Catalyst Air sails have identical outlines as the same-sized wave sails, down to the last centimeter in boom and luff lengths. The difference is that they are monofilm, and allow a single single cam to be installed in the batten above the boom, one of five. The shape is fuller as well, to allow for the effect of the cam. Plus there's a 6.5 Catalyst Air, while the Waves end with 6.0.
What kind of hybrid does that make them? Um.. could be, this is why Bill Hansen won't categorize them. "I don't approve of all these different names for sails," he said. " 'Freeride' means nothing to me. Race means something, slalom means something, but to me, freeride is some sort of vague term. I can't really label my sails that way, because to me, it doesn't mean anything to the consumer."
He's rolling now. "The more I think about it, the less enthused I am about making the presence of a cam vague in a sail category. If you ask any one of your guest testers if they know the difference between a cammed and camless sail, they'll all know. Ask them the difference between a slalom and freeride and they won't know."
And so, the sails are called Catalyst, because they are the "catalyst" of, well… we think he explained (in a Research Physicist sort of way), and we think he said that a sail should be a catalyst to inspire you, or at least these sails were, but it was a bit too v
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CATALYST AIR 5.7
Mast: 430/21 Boom: 189
Battens: 5 Cams: NONE
Weight: 8.5/3.8kg Speed: 3.86 Power: 4.14 Stability: 4.14 Range: 4.00 Wtrstart: 4.43 Overall: 4.11 Price: $569
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ague for us to follow, for sure.
The Windwing convertibles prevented a special problem to the test, because, ideally, they should be tested with and without cams and with every possibility in between; but that would have effectively doubled, tripled and quadrupled the number of such sails to be tested. At least the Airs, with only one cam, were simple. Their state of camming is noted below. The presence or absence of the cam was very vague to our testers, however.
SCORE: (13 ratings, rigged with one cam)
Speed 4.0 Power 4.15 Stability 4.15 Range 4.31 Waterstart 4.23 Overall 4.17
"A great all-around sail," said Jeff Stewart.
And that's it. Not a peep from anyone else, including staff, despite the very favorable impression it made. Except Newfie, who of course gave it straight 5's, on the same day he also gave the Simmer 5.3 OnShore Wave and Pryde 5.0 NR straight 5's, commenting that it was "difficult to differentiate between them, as they were all extremely good in all respects."
Newfie really especially liked the Windwings. He rated six of them, adding the separate category of Handling (which we should have had all along, instead of burying it within Stability). He awarded 27 5's, six 5-pluses (5.5), and one 4—to the 8.3 three-cam Synthesis, in waterstart—for a 5.06 overall average on our scale from 1 to 5.
We disqualified the scores, of course, but maybe we shouldn't have. It should be noted that the Windwings worked at a distinct disadvantage, because none of the tester/dealers sold them. When you consider that most of them sold Prydes, and none of them sold Windwings, you kind of want to take a blind stab at balance, and ratchet up the Windwing scores on principle.
CATALYST AIR 5.7
SCORE: (7 ratings, rigged with no cams)
Speed 3.86 Power 4.14 Stability 4.14 Range 4.0 Waterstart 4.43 Overall 4.11
COMMENTS:
Again, Jeff Stewart is the only sailor who was inspired to offer any verbal input.
"A bit easier to handle in jumps, jibes and waves than the Hot Sails Maui 6.0 Stealth," he said. Being a bit smaller, it should be. And maybe it should be more than a bit easier, considering it's a monofilm wave sail and the Stealth is a camless race sail.
CATALYST AIR 6.5
SCORE:(rigged with no cams)
One sailor rated it, giving it a 4 in Speed, 5 in Power, 3 in Stability, 5 in Range and 3 in Waterstart.
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